“West Side Story” and “The Sound of Music” were both movies out of time in their own ways. “West Side Story” was a predecessor to not just the darker and more tragic musicals that its lyricist, the legendary Stephen Sondheim, would come to write in the ’70s, but also the New Hollywood revolution that began in earnest a few years after its release in 1961. “The Sound of Music,” on the other hand, was patently out of step with the ’60s’ cultural movements by the time it came out in 1965 (which is part of the reason why Fox nearly didn’t make it). 

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, who wrote the music and lyrics for the original “Sound of Music” stage show, had shaped the Hollywood musical for decades by then, but they were on the out and would soon be replaced by the Sondheims of the world. Studios, as they’re wont to do, immediately flooded the market with “Sound of Music” copycats in the late ’60s anyway, desperately hoping to recreate its lightning-in-a-bottle success. The vast majority of these splashy, big-budget musicals got a thumbs-down from critics and landed with a thud at the box office.

Like other genres at the time, musicals were only able to survive by embracing the winds of change. “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Cabaret” helped restore their critical standing in the early ’70s. They were emotionally complex, explored socially provocative subject matter, and brought a refreshing grittiness to their song-and-dance spectacles. This was also more or less what Wise liked about “West Side Story” and the reason he held it in higher regard than “The Sound of Music.”